Band: MARIENBAD
Country: Germany
Title: Werk 1 - Nachtfall
Label: Massacre Records
Year: 2011
Style: Gothic Doom Metal
Review:
It remains a mistery for me how can a band with no demos or previous other releases manages to sign with such a label as Massacre is and my only explaination would be the possible friendship between them and Massacre's bosses. Anyway, Marienbad is one of those bands that released its debut album under such a big label. "werk 1 - Nachtfall" is a 46 minutes long album containing 8 tracks, the music is quite average (especially the vocals, even if the guy tries his best to be as versatile as possible), but the atmosphere they create is a good one: dark, doomy, deep and catchy. I would have liked a bit more accent on the violins and flutes that appear only once in a while during the album's lenght. At some extent this reminds me of Bethlehem but that's maybe because the creepy atmosphere and German language. What's more important is the album's not boring, not monotone, so you can enjoy it if you're into this kind of metal.
Reviewed by Adrian
Rating: 7.5/10
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Band: NAILGUN MASSACRE
Country: Holland
Title: Backyard Butchery
Label: Slowrunner Records
Year: 2011
Style: Death Metal
Review:
Awesome old school brutality coming from Nailgun Massacre. I even hear a bit of Death Breath influence in this release! Autopsy and Carcass also come to mind when I listen to Backyard Butchery. There is no way a death metal fan will be able to NOT listen to this whole release! Nailgun Massacre are unrelenting in their style of old school metal, they play it as if the scene was turned back 15 to 20 years ago and they decided to record their first release. Nothing disappointing here at all. Fans of old school death metal will love this effort. Throw on killer tracks like Cadaverous Lay, Mortuary Meathouse, or Zombie Swamp and you’ll be hooked as fast as the hit you took of this album! AWESOME! Nailgun Massacre are killer and I can’t wait for what comes next - shows, tours, more death metal tracks for the next record! Whatever, Nailgun Massacre’s album Backyard Butchery is supreme!
Reviewed by Lex Luther
Rating: 10/10
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Band: NATTSMYG
Country: Sweden
Title: Fylgja
Label: Unexploded Records
Year: 2011
Style: Folk Black Metal
Review:
Nattsmyg was founded in 2005 and has already 3 albums out and 5 demos, too, so this is a hard-working band I'd say. This album released on unexploded Records presents us a heavily melodic Black Metal band constructing its music on a majestic keyboard line that I consider as being their most important element, at least on this album. But worth mentioning are also the female vocals that on some parts give the impression of being awful, on other they are awesome, the male Black Metal vocals are very good, aggressive and powerful. There are some acoustic guitar and violin elements here and there but I don't think that would be enough to call this a proper Folk Metal band, I'd rather call it Majestic mid-tempo Black Metal, but I guess Folk Metal and Viking Metal followers out there will also enjoy it, it's quite interesting and catches your attention.
Reviewed by Adrian
Rating: 8/10
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Band: NECROVILE
Country: Romania
Title: The Pungency of Carnage
Label: United Guttural Records
Year: 2009
Style: Brutal Death Metal
Review:
From the bowels of Romania’s underground we have Necrovile and "The Pungency of Carnage”. There are nine tracks totaling almost 30 minutes of brutality. Now, all of the metalheads in the underground death metal world know that bands have become a dime a dozen in the death metal genre. For example, on the website Encyclopedia Metallum, under the choice of death metal a total of 28,170 bands are entered into the system! That is just the bands that have entered into the site. This doesn’t even include the number of bands in the world that haven’t signed up yet. WOW! That is a lot of bands playing a lot of either good death metal, or bad death metal. Necrovile happen to play their brand of brutality quite well, and tight. The Pungency of Carnage starts off fast and brutal. Throughout the record Necrovile just let out the sickening gut slams for vocals and everything else is just a crushing slab of death metal. I noticed some technical parts here and there on this release, but mostly Necrovile keeps it relatively simple. I tend to enjoy the death metal genre and Necrovile play it pretty good. All of the songs are brutal, but a couple of tracks like "I Defile Your Burned Flesh” and "Intestinal Feast” show some good and tight playing by Necrovile. Production is well done and since the songs aren’t very long, Necrovile is able to keep the interest going. So for fans of very brutal death metal like "The Texas Death Metal” scene then check out Necrovile from Romania.
Reviewed by Lex Luther
Rating: 8/10
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Band: PATHOLOGY
Country: USA
Title: Awaken the Suffering
Label: Victory Records
Year: 2011
Style: Brutal Death Metal
Review:
Holy crap is this brutal and sick! Pathology have made a career of making metal that can make healthy people vomit all over themselves, and Awaken the Suffering is definitely without exception. From the start of "Dissected by Righteousness” to the crushing "Media Consumption” to the very sickness of "Humanity’s Cesspool” Pathology leave nothing but a trail of dust and blood behind them. Awaken the Suffering is a pure sickening experience with really nothing much else to say? Anybody who knows Pathology knows how completely sick and brutal they can be, but this new assault will take things to a new level. Pathology’s Awaken the Suffering will pummel the most loyal of fans to the ground when they grab this release! So far I cannot wait for the underground to hear this release!
Reviewed by Lex Luther
Rating: 10/10
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Band: RUINS
Country: Germany
Title: Chambers of Perversion
Label: Negative Existence
Year: 2010
Style: Black Thrash Metal
Review:
Germany has spawned an evil act of metal named Ruins. Their newest opus entitled "Chambers of Perversion” is a very raw offering. No fancy stuff like opera singers, violins, keyboards, or electronic crap. Ruins churns out plain old primitive Black Metal that has similar influences as early Dark Throne or other bands of that era. The fact that Ruins gives nothing but the blackest metal is such a refreshing change as far as the Black Metal genre goes. No offense or any disrespect toward Black Metal bands today, but the old school feeling from Ruins is exactly what the underground needs these days. There are eight tracks totaling 20 minutes, it may be a short listen, but well worth the metal and effort. Ruins will last throughout the Black Metal world and hopefully they can keep it simple like Chambers of Perversion is. Simple and evil metal offering tracks like "Slaves of the Undead”, "War in Heaven Part 4” (megalomania), and "Sperm of the Antichrist”. Primitive, raw, and cold - Ruins
Reviewed by Lex Luther
Rating: 8/10
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Band: SEIDR
Country: USA
Title: For Winter Fire
Label: Flenser Records
Year: 2011
Style: Doom Death Metal
Review:
Talk about your depressing doom metal bands, and Seidr seems to be winning that award! Now I have to admit that this is the first time I have ever heard the music from Seidr. Doom metal isn’t my favorite genre, but I do like certain bands involved. Seidr plays a style of doom reminiscent of Cathedral’s early opus "Forest of Equilibrium.” A downright gloomy, slow, and depressing offering here. Long and doomy is what you have, Ritual Doom is what the style is considered to be. The band says on their Facebook page that they love to play slow because sometimes it takes a long time to say something worth saying! You have to love that one! I agree, Although, doom isn’t my specialty I do like the style of My Dying Bride, early Paradise Lost, and Candlemass. Seidr is a bit more evil and dark than most so this will be an interesting listen for fans of the genre.
Reviewed by Lex Luther
Rating: 7/10
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Band: SOLITUDE AETURNUS
Country: USA
Title: In Times of Solitude
Label: Massacre Records
Year: 2011
Style: Doom Metal
Review:
Solitude Aeturnus is a doom gold mine that formed back in 1987, and then unloaded their first doom demo in 1989 to the underground. Since that time Solitude has grown and excelled at their craft of making people very depressed while hearing their music. 6 full-length records and a slew of demos, splits, and compilations, Solitude hasn’t forgotten where they started. Funny thing is Solitude is a Texas Metal Band from the depths of some of the foul and sickening metal that ever came from a state in the U.S. Still underground, this compilation takes the earlier days of demos and places them together for some "justice” I guess one could say for the early days of creating their style of doom metal. Confessor comes to mind when I hear certain tracks from these guys. Anyway, as far as the compilation of demos go Solitude 5 previous tracks from 1988 begin the trek down memory lane. Excellent to hear, a diehard fan of Solitude will enjoy this compilation. Solitude Aeturnus are still churning out the sorrow and sadness after 25 years of existence! Fans of Confessor (ala Condemned era) will enjoy certain tracks on this comp. The rest is for the underground’s hardcore doom metal fanatics to enjoy. Solitude Aeturnus is alive and well.
Reviewed by Lex Luther
Rating: 7/10
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Band: STILLBORN
Country: Poland
Title: Los Asesinos del Sur
Label: Ataman Productions
Year: 2011
Style: Death Metal
Review:
Stillborn is back! The newest album is a just pure old school death metal, album was recorded and mixed by Piotr Lekki from Kwart Studio, album’s official out 01.09.2011, total time 31:19... Everything is clear... „Los Asesinos del Sur” is a 10 tracks album taken from old school hell, when grindcore influences are accepted. Fury drums, energetic riffs, short guitar solos, surprisingly quick completion of tracks, good and charakteristic for Stillborn growl... Short album, just a half of hour, but this is great half of hour, I like it, directly and specifically, just pure anger and power. it was worth the wait for this album so much time!
Reviewed by Vilcin
Rating: 9/10
Band: SUPREME PAIN
Country: Holland
Title: Divine Incarnation
Label: Massacre Records
Year: 2011
Style: Death Metal
Review:
2006 was the year that Supreme Pain came to life in the metal underground. Members from other bands like Sinister, Infinited Hate, and Scaffold came together to form Supreme Pain and did a damn good job of it! Old School like Suffocation and Immolation come to mind when I listen to Divine Incarnation. Technicality, primitive riffs, and sick vocals mixed with a newer influence gives Supreme Pain that crushing brutality to unload this type of release. Now nothing about the world is going to change because of this release, but I know that many fans of old school style death metal will enjoy this. Supreme Pain unleash ten tracks at 47 minutes of sickness time! The intro "Dawn of a New Era” leads into the brutal start of track two entitled "The Dark Army” and after that I never lost interest. Other tracks included that define the style of Supreme Pain are the speedy ones like "Putrefied Beauty” and "Spiritual Sickness”. All in all Supreme Pain work well at their craft. As I mentioned before, old school influence is all over the record and the technical side doesn’t take away from the brutality of Divine Incarnation. Supreme Pain are well worth the listen for fans of Suffocation, Immolation, and Incantation.
Reviewed by Lex Luther
Rating: 7/10
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Band: SYNTHETIC WATERFALL
Country: France
Title: Inside the Different
Label: Selfreleased
Year: 2011
Style: Atmospheric Metal
Review:
The band is from France, but if you look at its members you'd be inclined to think one is Finnish (Timo Virmavirta), one is American (Donovan Raynal) and one Italian (Tom Gardonna). Anyway, this is their first EP, a 34 minutes lasting effort including 5 tracks, and despite the band's name the music is quite organic and there's not so many synthetic additions here (except occasional background synths), and that I like. :) They started off as a Melodic Death Metal band but lost the Death Metal part on the way and their current labelling, Atmospheric Metal, is quite accurate I'd say. Music is based on metallic guitar riffs supported by melodic guitar leads, subtle background keys and a combination of clean with Death Metal vocals here and there. Some parts of this EP leads my thinking to a progressive metal style, and I think there's where they are headed for the future. Timo's clean vocals are really strange, they give the impression of no skills, but still, with the high level of emotions involved, the final result is acceptable. What I personally like the most on this EP are the guitar leads and the low Death Metal like vocals of Timo, but if you're into this style, give them a try, you might find more elements on your liking, the music is good enough, deeply emotional and has a professional sound.
Reviewed by Adrian
Rating: 7.5/10
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Band: THE CREVICES BELOW
Country: Australia
Title: Below the Crevices
Label: Nordvis
Year: 2011
Style: Atmospheric Black Metal
Review:
Nordvis describes The Crevices Below as close to Emperor, Limbonic Art, Katatonia and Paradise Lost. The second comparison made me very curious as I'm a fan of Limbonic Art's older works, and i have to say I'm not disapointed at all by the atmosphere created on this debut album. 6 tracks, 51 minutes, mid-tempo, Atmospheric Black Metal with a good sound, but it could have been a lot better also, "Below the Cervices" portrays a band with extreme potential, very creative and careful to details. Recommended!
Reviewed by Adrian
Rating: 9/10
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Band: THE GARDNERZ
Country: Sweden
Title: The System of Nature
Label: Abyss Records
Year: 2011
Style: Doom Death Metal
Review:
The gardnerz seems to be a South American band actually, two of is members being from Chile, one from Mexico and only one from Sweden, but I guess they have relocated to Sweden. The Mexican guy namely Wilhelm Lindh was (is?) also a member of the Death Metal legends Toxodeth, everyone should know who Toxodeth is. "The System of Nature" is The Gardnerz' debut album, a 12 tracks effort lasting for exactly an hour, a melodic, heavy and dark Doom Death Metal a la' '90's that honestly made me think of early Amorphis, and that's because of the "oriental" approach on guitar leads. The guitar riffs unfortunately are getting too repetitive at times and that gets monotonous, and if you add the mono-tone raspy vocals of Niclas (good vocals, but not varied enough) this drags down the release, but still all in all I have enjoyed it, especially the guitar leads and bass lines. Recommended to old Amorphis followers. The Progressive Death Metal elements that are thrown in here and there only show that these guys have a lot more potential than they show on this release.
Reviewed by Adrian
Rating: 7/10
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Band: THE LIGHT OF DARK
Country: Mexico
Title: World War Satan
Label: American Line Productions
Year: 2011
Style: Death Metal
Review:
What we have here is a blend of brutal death metal and definite hints of raw black metal. The lyrics themselves deal mainly with the Occult and other forms of evil. The lyrics fit the music well as The Light of Dark take no prisoners with the speed attack and brutal technicality. World War Satan hails throughout the album; when I heard the vocalist chant "SATAN, SATAN 666” I loved it, just loved it! The music is brutal, the lyrics are evil, and The Light of Dark are just fucking awesome! Fans of the most extreme death metal, but still technical in a way will enjoy this release very much. There are a total of nine tracks giving plenty of crushing brutality for the listener. Now I usually don’t this excited about a release, but this band does deserve to be heard! "Sumerian Magic” begins the assault followed by great tracks such as "World War Satan”, and "Patient Zero”. Fans of early Incantation will love this record.
Reviewed by Lex Luther
Rating: 8/10
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Band: TOXIC HOLOCAUST
Country: USA
Title: Conjure and Command
Label: Relapse Records
Year: 2011
Style: Speed Thrash Black Metal
Review:
From the start T.H. let it loose with the technicality and crunching mosh parts. Conjure and Command is a pure thrash metal effort that is considered gold to me! This album rocks. T.H. unload 10 new tracks that total 32 minutes of playing time. Each track is more killer than the next with nothing letting up as far as brutality goes. The old school thrash metal influence is all over this release. Speed and technicality shred throughout Conjure and Command, with tracks like "Nowhere to Run”, and "Agony of the Damned” nobody will be able to stop playing this cd. Nothing fancy, just plain old thrash metal with an old school feel mixed with an almost black metal type of vocal style. I loved it! Conjure and Command is going stay in my player until the next T.H. release comes out! Toxic Holocaust is a major roll people, and Conjure and Command will keep it going!
Reviewed by Lex Luther
Rating: 10/10
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Band: TYRANEX
Country: Sweden
Title: Extermination Has Begun
Label: Inferno Records
Year: 2011
Style: Thrash Metal
Review:
The Sweden Band Tyranex was formed in December 2005 and from the first impact, without reading anything about them, you can see that they play metal like in the 80s period ( a mixture of classic heavy and thrash metal) . After 4 demos and different changes of line up , finally Tyranex has reached its first full length. All the album slips relatively well also because it lasts about half an hour and the sound is good even if I think there is something missing. I have appreciated a lot some interludes as " Road to damnation” whose the heavy part has touched my emotions. I was surprised when I have read that the singer is a woman ( Linnea Landstedt - Guitars, Vocals) not because I am a male chauvinist but because she sings very well with a good heavy and emotional scream. So what I can say : There is nothing original but if you want to go back to the 80s period Tyranex is the band for you and sincerely I know a lot of people that will like them more than other modern bands.
Reviewed by Rob Gore
Rating: 7.5/10
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Band: UNTIMELY DEMISE
Country: Canada
Title: City of Steel
Label: Selfreleased
Year: 2010
Style: Thrash Metal
Review:
Untimely Demise play a style of Thrash Metal that has old-school written all over it! From start to finish these guys jam a style that makes mosh pit bigger than the Empire State Building! Seven tracks giving up 32 minutes of catchy metal with technical status and a good production. Naturally melodic metal always makes it’s way into thrash metal records, but this isn’t bad with City of Steel. Nothing here is groundbreaking as far as originality goes, but not too many bands have a choice in a genre filled with an endless amount of bands trying to make their play. I respect Untimely Demise, but I am wondering if they are a bit late with this record. Either way, fans of old school metal with melodic sentiments and concept will eat this record in a flash! Untimely Demise may not be the most stand out Thrash Band in the underground, but they know how to get their game going. If you want to get a good mosh pit going then tracks like "Hunting Evil” and "Virtue in Death” should get things happening. If you want a melodic sort of beginning then check out "The Unmaker” and see what you think.
Reviewed by Lex Luther
Rating: 7/10
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Band: VELOSITY
Country: USA
Title: Wide-Spread Devastation
Label: Selfreleased
Year: 2011
Style: Speed Thrash Metal
Review:
Wow, Velosity really know how to throw down the thrash attack with this release. I was pretty impressed with the intro of Wide-Spread Devastation. It kind of reminded me of early Sepultura or early 90’s thrash metal that’s for sure. Anyway, the intro turns into a really cool mosh part when the next track begins. Nothing but cold hearted thrash metal with a pretty good vocalist whose style fit’s the style of metal the band plays. Not too clean, but not too raspy type of vocals, but the metal just jams. I am a big fan of old school thrash metal and even though Velosity come from the "newer” thrash realms they can certainly jam out the good metal. Wide-Spread Devastation is a good thrash metal release that any fan of thrash should enjoy. There are 7 tracks total, so the listener will have plenty of metal to get into Velosity.
Reviewed by Lex Luther
Rating: 9/10
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Band: VITER / KINGS & BEGGARS
Country: Ukraine
Title: Diva Ruzha
Label: Casus Belli Musica
Year: 2011
Style: Medieval Folk Metal
Review:
Diva Ruzha is a very interesting folk metal split. Two bands joined forces and recorded common material. Viter is a „metal part” of this album, Kings & Beggars is a medieval folk band. Just five tracks (four and one Skyfoger’s cover „Migla, Migla, Rasa, Rasa”) in the style of melodic folkmetal. I’m little surprised, because I expected that these bands will play typical pseudo-folk stylized to celtic or medieval music, but this album is firmly embedded in original folk melodies taken from Ukraine, Baltic countries and Scandinavia.That’s good. „Diva Ruzha” based on popular medieval melodies motifs too, a lot of bands played and played these melodies in another versions. However I’m so glad that pagan bands from East reach for authentic ancient melodies, this is really better than fluite taken from keyboard. The last song of this album is acoustic version of popular ukrainian drinking song stylized on medieval beat. Summary: interesting but revealing anything. Viter must have to work on the arrangement and will be ok.
Reviewed by Vilcin
Rating: 7.5/10
Band: VORTEX OF CLUTTER
Country: Turkey
Title: Source of Sickness
Label: Victory By Fire Records
Year: 2011
Style: Thrash Death Metal
Review:
Vortex of Clutter is a Turkish band from Istanbul formed in 2008 and I had difficulty to find some information about it, so I will speak only about the album . The album "Source of Sickness” ( about 44 minutes of music) is a mix of thrash death and heavy metal even Prog metal; well sincerely I can’t define it properly because you can’t collocate it into a precise genre (maybe this is better). Everything is good, well played ; the technique is nice with very catchy riffs and the mid tempo parts are well pursued and inserted. The drum is never fast so forget something brutal like blast and beat or something like that. There is something about the voice that doesn’t appeal to me, I don’t know maybe the volume is too high or it’s something about the recording but nothing serious. I’ve appreciated a lot the solos parts and the different kinds of sounds that the band puts inside the songs. In the end "Source of Sickness” is a good album never repetitive or predictable and original most of the times, so give them a chance.
Reviewed by Rob Gore
Rating: 8.5/10
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Band: WOODEN STAKE
Country: USA
Title: Dungeon Prayers & Tombyard Serenades
Label: Razorback Recordings
Year: 2011
Style: Doom Death Metal
Review:
Wow, this is pretty cool. Obviously when I first heard the name Wooden Stake I was expecting a brutal effort in the vein of Devourment or Diminished. I was wrong. A clean, but somber voice came about adding to the rest of the doom driven music I was listening to. Good production and primitive metal go well together with Wooden Stake. This two person band, one male and one female, is a baby in the underground just being formed in 2010. They have done well with this release. The vocalist is a female named Vanessa Nocera and she is quite capable at keeping things very somber and evil throughout the album. Clean, sorrowful, and downright guttural sometimes, this woman has a future in the underground world of metal. Wayne Sarantopolous handles guitars, drums, and keyboards on this release. Both members do a great job with this effort and Wooden Stake will carve out a niche in doom world of death metal very quick. There are 9 tracks totaling 45 minutes of playing time which is plenty of time to drown in the cave of doom Wooden Stake creates. I am awaiting to hear what comes next from this band and I am sure that the next release will keep beyond what this first effort has done. Awesome doom/death metal from Wooden Stake.
Reviewed by Lex Luther
Rating: 10/10
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Band: ZOMBIE INC
Country: Austria
Title: A Dreadful Decease
Label: Massacre Records
Year: 2011
Style: Death Metal
Review:
40 minutes of pure horror-filled death metal from Zombie Inc, and they do a great job. Zombie Inc. formed in 2009 and has since done well releasing their first full-length release entitled A Dreadful Decease. We have a great old school vibe throughout the records and Zombie Inc have a style that reminds me of Abscess and possibly early thrash metal acts like Sacrifice and Invocator. The brutality of the music is where it is at with these guys. A Dreadful Decease delivers the goods with death metal technicality and sickness. From what I gather, the members of Zombie Inc are all former members of bands like Fleshcrawl, Pungent Stench, and Belphegor all brutal bands in their own right! Catchy and brutal along with fast and blasting parts that allow Zombie Inc to show off their more than capable skills at delivering suck crushing metal! A Dreadful Decease is going to bring some fresh death metal to the table and garner plenty of attention in the underground! "Bloodrain Overdose”, "A Dreadful Decease”, and "We Must Eat” are just a few of the tracks that will give out the sledgehammer of sickening talent. for Zombie Inc. I can’t wait until this band comes out with some more releases!
Reviewed by Lex Luther
Rating: 9/10
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Band: Various Artists
Country: Various
Title: Wild Thrash Brigade
Label: Old Goat Corpse Productions / Empayar Productions
Year: 2011
Style: Thrash Metal
Review:
Wild Thrash Brigade is a compilation of killer thrash metal acts that are making way for the future. Mentally Defiled starts off the release with a killer track named Leatherface. It has all the elements of a good thrash metal band - technicality, blasting beats and an evil voice behind it. There are 12 tracks of thrash metal here, some bands are on this comp. twice. All of the tracks kick major ass. Farscape unloads some evil black metal sounding thrash, Italian Thrash masters National Suicide join in the compilation, and Division Speed. All tracks are extreme in their respected genres, all of these bands deserve to be heard and this compilation will do them justice. 12 tracks of pure thrash metal right here! What else can I say? Check out Wild Thrash Brigade, a compilation made strictly for fans of underground thrash metal.
Reviewed by Lex Luther
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